Means for effectively sealing a bottle or container



Feb. 4, 1969 M. BRAUN ETAL I 3,425,579

MEANS FOR EFFECTIVELY SEALING A BOTTLE 0R CONTAINER Filed June 15. 1967 322 43 54 38 4819 60 4'4 3 fuvezz 507% M20 03 Bra u 72/ 6601176 B i' mrfy United States Patent 3,425,579 MEANS FOR EFFECTIVELY SEALING A BOTTLE 0R CONTAINER Morris Braun, Chicago, Ill., and George B. Spransy, Oconomowoc, Wis., assignors to W. Braun 'Comparry, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed June 15, 1967, Ser. No. 646,266 US. Cl. 215-40 Claims Int. Cl. B65d 41/58 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Providing a closure cap with a liner positioned therein. The liner has a central plug which enters the bottle or container opening for closing same. It also has a severable portion engaged by cutting means on the cap when the cap is applied to the bottle, which severs the plug portion from the remainder of the liner so that when the cap is removed from the bottle or container it contains a portion of the sealing member which remains with the cap for repeated reclosing. The severed plug is removable from the bottle or container opening and may be discarded.

Objects of the invention One of the objects of this invention is to provide means for positively sealing a bottle or container to prevent leakage during shipment and which is provided with a severable portion which remains with the cap and serves as a seal for the repeated closure of the cap.

Another object of this invention is to provide a cap and a sealing member in combination with the outlet opening of a bottle or container which will plug up the outlet opening to prevent any leakage from the container prior to the first time the device is put to use and in which the cap has means for separating the plug from the balance of the sealing means so that the remaining portion of the sealing means remains with the cap for subsequent and repeated closing of the cap, while the plug may be removed and discarded.

Another object of this invention is to provide a very simple and inexpensive structure which will accomplish the objectives hereinabove set forth.

Other objects will become apparent as this description progresses.

Brief description of the drawings In the drawings: FIGURE 1 is an enlarged sectional view showing the invention applied to a bottle, and taken on line 1-1 of I Description of the preferred embodiments The bottle or container to which the sealing member or liner and cap is applied is indicated by the numeral 10. It has an externally threaded neck 12 and a top wall 14 which extends horizontally across the mouth of the bottle. The top wall has a central opening 16 which tapers or inclines outwardly as at 18 from the top downwardly. The entrance 19 of the opening 16 has a radius. The top wall 14 is positioned below the outer rim 20 of the bottle.

3,425,579 Patented Feb. 4, 1969 The cap, generally indicated at 22, which may be molded of plastic or the like, is of cylindrical shape, having a circular top wall 24 and a cylindrical body 26 which is internally threaded as at 28 to engage the externally threaded neck 12. The interior of the cap has an annular lip or bead 30 spaced from the top wall 24 of the cap to provide a space 32 between the lip or head 30 and the top wall 24. Extending inwardly of the top wall 24 of the cap and formed integrally with the cap is a centrally positioned annular cutting element 34 which has an inner tapering wall 35 to provide a knife-like cutting edge 36.

The sealing member or liner is generally indicated at 38. It is injection molded of a plastic composition, preferably polyethylene, and comprises a disk-like body member consisting of an outer annular or ring-like segment 42, an intermediate annular thinner wall segment 44, and a spaced inner annular segment 46 connected to the intermediate annular segment 44 by a plurality of spaced bridging members 48. Extending downwardly from the inner annular member 46 is a central hollow member, protuberance or plug generally indicated at 50.

The outer annular or outer ring-like segment 42 has a tapered 0r inclined peripheral edge 52 having a radius at the top thereof. The outer segment has concentric ridges or serrations '54 on its top and bottom walls. The intermediate annular thinner wall segment 44 is positioned intermediate the top and bottom planes of the outer segment 42. Extending downwardly from the inner portion of the intermediate segment 44 is a continuous annular rib 56 whose opposite sides taper inwardly from the top towards the bottom and terminate in a hat horizontal bottom 57. The inner annular segment 46 has extending from the bottom thereof three spaced downward extensions 47, spaced from each other. The extensions 47 are part of the inner annular segment 46 and each extension 47 is adjacent a bridging strip 48. The top 58 of the inner segment 46 is on the same horizontal plane as the top 60 of the intermediate segment 44, and the bottom 61 of the spaced extensions 47 of the inner segment 46 is on the same horizontal plane as the bottom 57 of the annular rib 56. The inner annular segment 46 connects with the central hollow member, protuberance or plug which extends below the plane of the disk-like body.

The plug 50 has an upper portion 62, an intermediate portion 63 and a lower portion 64. The outside surface of the upper portion 62 has a slight inward incline from the top toward the bottom. The short intermediate portion 63 tapers or inclines sharply inwardly to the lower portion 64 which has a reduced OD. The lower portion 64 also has a slight inward incline from the top toward the bottom. The bottom 65 of the plug is closed by an end wa1l65 which has a concave outer recess.

The spaced bridging members 48, not shown, comprise three spaced connecting strips which extend from the intermediate segment 44 to the inner segment 46. The connecting strips 48 extend angularly downward from the intermediate segment 44 to the inner segment 46.

The liner or sealing member 38 is positioned inside the cap 22 with the peripheral edge of the outer segment 42 positioned between the bead 30 and the underside of the top wall 24 of the cap. This serves to hold the liner or sealing member 38 inside the cap. The top of the intermediate segment 44 and the top 58 of the inner segment 46 will be spaced from the underside of the cap. The cutting member 34 will overlie the spaced bridging strips 48 with the cutting edge 36 in engagement with the bridging strips. The hollow plug 50 will be centrally positioned inside the cap. The cap 22 and the sealing member 38 are then applied to close the bottle opening, with the internal threads 28 of the cap 22 engaging the externally threaded neck of the bottle. As the cap is screwed down to sealing position the bottoms 57 of the downwardly extending annular rib 56, which is adjacent the spaced bridging strips 48, will rest on the recessed top end wall 14 of the bottle, as will the bottom 61 of the inner segment 46. The hollow plug 50 will enter the top opening 16 of the bottle and be positioned as shown in FIGURE 1, in which position it is squeezed into a tight fit relationship. The sealing member 38 will flex upwardly (not shown) so that the intermediate segment 44 will rest against the inside of the top wall of the cap. The knife edge 36 of the cutting member 34 will cut the bridging strips 48, thus severing the inner segment 46 from the intermediate segment 44. The inner segment 46 remains with the plug 50. This provides a seal-tight closure for the bottle.

When the bottle is to be used, the cap 22 is unthreaded from the neck of the bottle and with it will go the portion of the sealing disk, namely, the outer segment 42 and the intermediate segment 44, all of which remain with the cap during the continued reapplication of the cap to the bottle. The plug 59 and the inner segment 46 which remain in the bottle when the cap is first unscrewed is manually and separately withdrawn by grasping the portion of the bridging strip or the inner segment and it may be thrown away as it will not be subsequently used. In subsequently closing the bottle the remaining portion of the sealing member which remains with the cap forms an eflective seal against discharge of the bottle contents. The serrated upper and lower surfaces 54 of the outer segment 42 are compressed between the top of the bottle and the cap and this serves to increase the etficacy of the sealing.

The modified sealing member or liner shown in FIG- URE 6 will now be described. It is the same as the sealing member or liner 38, except for the downwardly extending annular rib 56. In the modification, instead of an annular rib 56 there is provided downwardly extending spaced ribs 70. One of each of such ribs 70 is adjacent the bridging strip 48'. The spaced ribs 70 are each constructed similar in shape to the rib 56 and the bottom of the ribs 70 rest on the same surface as does the rib 56. The annular rib 56 or the spaced ribs 70 provide a support for the liner, particularly during the cutting operation of the bridge strips 48 by the cutting member 34 of the cap. The liner will thus be supported on the bottle end wall 14 so that the opposite ends of the bridging strips 48 are supported on members which in turn rest on the bottle end Wall 14, thereby providing a firm support at the points where the cutting of the bridging strips takes place. If this support were not provided, the bridging strips could flex downwardly when engaged by the cutting member and this would adversely effect the cutting operation.

We claim:

1. A closure for a container opening comprising, a cap having an end wall, retaining means spaced inwardly of the end wall of the cap, cutting means extending inwardly of the end wall, and a sealing member positioned inside said cap, said sealing member having a peripheral edge positioned between the retaining means and the end wall of the cap to retain the sealing member in said cap, said sealing member having a central protuberance with the central protuberance adapted to enter the container opening to seal same and prevent leakage from the container, said sealing member having a portion engageable by the cutting means to cut said portion and separate the sealing member into a portion which remains with the cap when removed from the container and the protuberance which remains in the container opening until manually removed.

2. A closure defined in claim 1 in which the cap is internally threaded for engagement with the neck of the container and in which the central protuberance is a hollow plug which is compressed in the container opening when in sealing position.

3. A closure defined in claim 1 in which the portion of the sealing member engageable by the cutting member comprises a plurality of spaced bridging strips.

4. A closure defined in claim 1 in which the sealing member is a disk having an outer annular segment, an intermediate annular segment and an inner annular segment adjacent the central protuberance, in which the intermediate annular segment and the inner annular segment each has depending portions which engage the top of the container to support the portion of the sealing member which is engaged by the cutting means.

5. A closure defined in claim 1 in which the sealing member is a disk having a plurality of annular segments, with severable bridging means between certain of said segments, which bridging means when severed by the cutting means permits certain of the annular segments to remain with the cap when removed from the container.

6. A closure defined in claim 5 in which the sealing member has an outer annular segment, an intermediate annular segment and an inner annular segment, and in which the intermediate anular segment has a downwardly extending rib, with said downwardly extending rib adapted to rest on the top of the container.

7. A closure defined in claim 1 in which the sealing member is a disk having a plurality of annular segments, with the outer segment engaging the end wall of the cap and with the other segment spaced from the end wall of the cap.

8. A closure defined in claim 7 in which the central protuberance is a hollow plug which is compressed in the container opening when in sealing position.

9. A closure defined in claim 1 in which the sealing member is a disk having a plurality of annular segments, with the outer segment having serrations on the top and bottom surfaces of said segment and with the top serrations engaging the end wall of the cap and with the bottom serrations engaging the top of the container, and with the inner segment spaced from the end wall of the cap.

10. A closure defined in claim 9 in which the portion of the sealing member engageable by the cutting member comprises a plurality of spaced bridging strips and in which the opposite ends of the bridging strips are supported on members which engage the container.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 1,051,418 12/1966 Great Britain.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner.

I. M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 21547, 46, 43 

